Always There

Chapter Seventy-Six

Chapter Seventy-Six:

Bryce's POV

"Have I told you that I think you look beautiful today yet, Blossom?" I ask.

Blossom smiles up at me, giving my hand a gentle squeeze. "Yes, you have. Several times already. Thank you, Bryce."

I laugh, squeezing her hand in return. "Well, it's true. Have I mentioned that I really love that skirt, too? You look adorable."

Blossom grins even wider, letting go of my hand to twirl around beside me as we continue to walk through the mall. Her skirt flares out around her and she giggles before falling into step beside me again, reaching for my hand once more.

She's wearing a long, airy skirt that falls to just above her ankles. It's made of a baby blue material, but it has cherry blossoms scattered all over it, the flowers connected with tree branches as though it's a view of the sky from underneath a cherry blossom tree. With it, she's wearing an intricate, baby pink lace top that I'm pretty sure is actually just a bra. There's just something about the outfit that suits my girl perfectly.

I never would have expected to see Lexi Brooks wearing a shirt that exposes her stomach out in public since she's so self conscious about her scars, but since her skirt sits high enough on her waist to cover the scars, she's radiating confidence right now.

I'm so fucking happy to see her so filled with joy.

"Thank you! I love this skirt. I bought it a few weeks ago and I've worn it, like, twenty times since. It's my favourite piece of clothing that I own," Blossom responds, staring up me with those wide hazel eyes of hers.

I stop walking for a moment and Blossom follows suit. I then lean in to kiss her on the forehead. "Well, I swear that I really do mean it when I say that you look beautiful. Is there anywhere else that you'd like to go, darling?"

We begin to walk again, even though it's pointless as I have no clue where Blossom wants to go right now. We woke up and ate breakfast fairly early this morning, and so I definitely want to go grab lunch somewhere soon because Blossom needs to get back to eating three meals a day, but I also want her be happy and so I want to go to whichever stores she wishes to visit first.

Blossom considers my question for a moment before giving me a shy, hopeful smile. "Just one more place. I'm out of my favourite lip balm. Do you think that we can stop by Sephora? I promise that I'll be super duper quick."

I smile down at her. "Of course we can. Lead the way, Miss Brooks."

We just spent an entire hour sniffing candles because for some reason, Blossom seems to really love candles. When I asked her why, she said that that it's because candles are a little luxury that she can give herself even though she isn't making much money right now and doesn't have much money to spend on nonessential things.

Because of this, I didn't complain even as we spent an ungodly amount of time in that candle store. I helped Blossom choose two candles that she wanted to buy from the several that she liked, and when I suggested she buy more than two, she scoffed, thinking I was joking, and when to line up to pay.

She tried to pay for the candles herself, but when she reached into her purse to retrieve her wallet, I paid for her things with my own card before she even looked up from her bag. She then proceeded to glare at me as the girl working at the cash register put her candles in a bag, only putting a smile on her face to thank the cashier before we turned to leave the store.

I can tell that she's not actually mad that I paid for her, though, because as we walk to the makeup store, she's skipping along happily beside me with a wide smile on her face.